7 child council members disqualified

They were found guilty of illegal construction at council headquarters

The State government, through an order dated January 28 (Saturday), has disqualified seven persons, including the incumbent general secretary, from the membership of the Kerala State Child Welfare Council. Of the seven, five are members of the executive committee of the council.

The order, issued by the Secretary, Department of Social Welfare, said that P. Krishnan (general secretary), T. Narayanan, P. Prabhavathy, P.V.K. Kadamberi, P.R. Varghese, C. Sathyapalan, and P.S. Bharathi were guilty of carrying out illegal construction at the 36-year-old council headquarters building here. A writ filed in the Kerala High Court by one Raiku K. Thomas had contended that the construction was done without obtaining permission from the Thiruvananthapuram city Corporation and in violation of the Kerala Municipal Building Rules. It was also contended that the structural stability of the building was at stake. The sanction given by the government was for Rs.25.2 lakh. However, the council spent more than Rs.45 lakh.

After an inspection of the building on December 1 last and a hearing on December 2, it was decided to collect a report from the Commandant-General of the Fire and Rescue Services. The Commandant-General replied that NOC had not been obtained from the rescue services, the order said.

They did not submit replies to government queries on the issue. “Hence, it can be concluded that these persons are guilty of the illegal actions done by them during their tenure as members of the standing committee which took the decision to go on with the illegal construction as stated above which is contrary to the provisions of the by-law,” the order said.

The additional construction was made by the then committee without even making an application to the Corporation as contemplated under the Kerala Municipal Building Rules. This caused a huge monetary loss to the council, the order said.

The government has nominated Sunil C. Kurien and Chempazhanthi Anil to the executive committee of the council.